One of my characters is going to be flogged as a punishment (my story is set in a medieval like world, though the character who is going to be flogged comes from 'our' world.) I have done some research, but the problem is that I cannot find a lot detailed information about it, thus my question: the whip I was planning to use, is a cat o' nine tales because apparently it hurt a lot. Now I was wondering how much lashes can a grown man take before he passes out? I don't want him to be on the brink of death. The problem I encounter is, that the person who is going to flogged, is not healthy. He has been weakened because of the lack of proper food. (he's been in a dungeon were he gets two times a day a bit of bread and a cup of water). Anyone and idea where I can look or someone has knowledge about this?
He was whipped to within an inch of his life... He wanted to die, one more whip should end this pain. The guard was careful not to kill him; the sadistic bastard was looking forward to doing it all again tomorrow and hung his whip on the hook. To kill him would mean he'd never talk and the guard wanted answers. He stood back as the criminal slumped to the floor and groaned in agony. The guard had to remind himself he was the enforcer, the punisher, not the executioner and slowed his whip just before his victim took his final breath. I don't think your readers will be counting
hmm true But I always like to know it myself.... but this is indeed a way to work around that issue... and I don't think the victim (it's set out of his point of view) will be able to keep count...
Then I doubt that the exact same amount of lashes with the same speed, intensity, sheer power or venom will have the same impact on any 2 men. I'd imagine there are a gazillion factors; age, health, strength, muscle mass, physical condition right down to the water contention, red blood cells, how much and what they ate that day. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagellation http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2008/11/how_many_lashes_can_one_man_take.html In the second link, two guys in Saudi took 7,000 lashes each for sodomy in 2007!
Your first issue if you really want the answer is what type of whip is being used as the term cat o' nine tails is just meant for the type of whip, but that whip comes with many versions. By this I mean the tails could be made out of different materials, could be plain ended, knoted ended, have metal hooks on the end, or metal barbs on the end and at other points on the tails length, and this is just a few of the choices. Never let it be said that men don't like to find more and more ways to be barbaric to each other. Another favourite type was metal (lead was one) infused with nails or glass. As to how many strikes it would take to pass out or die, thats really hard to put a number on. Factors would be skill and strength of the person whipping them, the persons pain tolerance, the above mentioned whip types and the persons general condition before whipping. Some people would take forty or more and stay awake, others less than twenty before blacking out. I'd say though if you really want a number give him something like forty and decide if you want him to be tough or not. Bare it in mind that a cat o' nine tails are used even today by people into BDSM just for fun, so as I said a lot depends on the whip type and a load of other factors as to how bad your day is going to be. Course you could always go for single tail or bullwhips as well. Any whip can be nasty and cut to the bone if made right and wielded with intent.
In Sharpe, Sargeant Harper received 100 lashes for stealing the Officer's valuables and Private Dobbs took 75 for fainting during drills. Hope this helpd
A cat of nine tails is pretty gruesome. Especially if they tied sharp objects to them which was not uncommon. A cat of nine tails with sharp things on it would turn someone's back into hamburger meat pretty quickly. :/ I'd suggest to go easy on the number and not have anything attached to it. Whips can leave welts and deep cuts in a person's back. Trust me your back is one of the worst places to be seriously injured. You literally can't do anything without making it hurt more if you've injured it. Think about it. Rolling over could potentially tear wounds open again. It would be incredibly painful and it would put the character out of commission for a while. Here's an article on wikipedia. Wikipedia isn't the greatest source so I'd check out the source links for more information it's just a good way to gather some quick surface knowledge and give you a starting point.
I've been flogged on multiply occasions, I can help! Flogging has two kinds of pains: Thuddy and Stingy. Thuddy pain comes from a flogger with broader falls (the thingies that you hit people with) and they usually leave bruises. If you're looking to hurt someone without killing or leaving too many permanent marks than this will be your thing. Stingy pain comes from skinny falls and will cause bleeding. This is more iconic in story telling The amount of lashings a person can take depend on several different factors. 1) Pain tolerance and/or health of individual 2) How hard the flogger is thrown 3) Where receiver is hit- getting hit on the kidneys too hard can cause serious injury. From personal experience I can take a lot, but I'm in good health and have a high pain tolerance and the person who is throwing the flogger has no intentions of causing serious injury or knocking me out. I do know that after about 45 minutes to an hour I start to fade, which is usually when the flogging ends. I'd say in the situation you're talking about, maybe about 20 to 30 minutes with less than 50 lashes. If you have any other questions, message me!
